IHIGH LINKS

BIG TEN MEN'S GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW

The 2014 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships, hosted by Nebraska, begins Fridayand concludes Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb. Friday'ssession will feature the team and all-around competitions, while the individualevent finals will be held during Saturday evening's portion of the championships.BTN will provide live coverage of both sessions, with Friday's competition beginningat 7 p.m. ET and Saturday's slate starting at 5 p.m.

Michigan claimed its 16th Big Ten Championship and first since 2009 last season.Penn State finished in second, followed by third-place Minnesota, fourth-place OhioState and fifth-place Illinois. The Fighting Illini lead all Big Ten schools with 27team championships, followed by Minnesota with 21.

Five Big Ten student-athletes will look to defend their event titles at thechampionships. Michigan's Sam Mikulak will aim to win consecutive titles in theall-around and high bar, while teammates Stacey Ervin and Syque Caesar will look toduplicate titles on the floor exercise and parallel bars, respectively. Illinois'Fred Hartville seeks to defend his title on the vault, while Penn State's CraigHernandez aims for his second straight crown on the pommel horse. At the conclusionof last year's championships, Mikulak was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year,while the Nittany Lions' Trevor Howard was tabbed the Freshman of the Year.

All seven Big Ten squads enter the conference championships ranked in the latestGymInfo Top 15 poll. Ohio State leads the way at No. 2, followed by No. 4 Michigan,No. 5 Minnesota, No. 6 Illinois and No. 7 Penn State. Iowa and Nebraska are rankedNo. 8 and No. 11, respectively.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Session 1: Friday, 7 p.m. ET (team and all-around competitions)

Session 2: Saturday, 5 p.m. ET (individual event finals)

TELEVISION COVERAGE

BTN will provide live coverage of both Big Ten Championships sessions, includingFriday's team championships and Saturday's individual championships.